1. Field
The following description relates to a method and an apparatus for radio frequency (RF) pulse synchronization in a super regenerative receiver (SRR).
2. Description of Related Art
The existing market for low-cost, low-power consuming and sensitive radio frequency receivers is huge, and current technology solutions are fairly expensive. The power consumption of such receivers keeps this technology out of the mass markets, such as energy metering, e-health, and lower end consumer electronics. In general, a super regenerative receiver (SRR) may be realized with much lower energy and power consumption and fewer components, and operated with lower voltage, compared to a homodyne or super-heterodyne receiver. Thus, the SRR may be suitable for a communication system that requires a low-cost and low-power receiver.
The SRR circuit architecture may find its application in the design of low-power and energy aware sensor networks. The main principle of the SRR may be based on the controlled feedback between positive and negative feedbacks and the theory of quenching. A quench oscillator may cause periodic build up and decays of oscillations during the duration of positive and negative feedback, respectively. These oscillations may be maximized at the zero crossing where the quench signal goes toward the positive half cycle. If the quench signal is not synchronized with an input data signal, then the energy of the output of the SRR will be decreased. Therefore, it is important for the quench signal to be accurately synchronized to the carrier at the peak points.
A conventional method in the art may control power by supplying the power to the super regenerative receiver within the start-up time period of the oscillator. The method may include adjusting a duty cycle ratio, and periodically turning off the power of the super regenerative receiver.
Another conventional method may provide frequency stabilization by means of a sampling phase-locked loop circuit. The method may further provide a frequency stabilization circuit, which does not require continuous operation of the phase-locked loop or the SRR.
The main issue associated with the SRR may be the synchronization of the input data with the locally-generated oscillator. The conventional method may solve such an issue recursively, which may be useful in case of analog methods. Due to the aforementioned reasons, there is a need for efficient synchronization between the input data signal and the quench signal.